# Can zombies climb ladders? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847 "2015-05-12T11:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/1 "2015-05-12T11:35:45Z")
Warning; posting in a zombie thread. Har har. Anyway, to specify type of zombie, we’re talking classic Romero shamblers, none of this fast zombie running nonsense. So, it’s the day we’ve all been planning for, the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse. You’re being chased through a city by a horde of rotters. You head up a ladder just like [this](http://www.preciseengineeringproducts.com/stg/userimages/site2484/gallery3//standard_ladder_and_handrails.jpg). There’s no other way up as all the doors are securely bolted shut. Fortunately you find loads of canned food and bottled water, so you won’t starve to death if you stay. But are you safe from the zeds - will they get up that ladder? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/2 "2015-05-12T12:40:14Z")
My impression from the slow-moving zombie books is that they don’t so much climb the ladders as form piles from wave after wave of zombies until the ones on top can claw their way to the roof and eat your intestines. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/3 "2015-05-12T13:05:41Z")
No, they don’t climb ladders. They will do stairs and even escalators, though. Your classic Romero-style zombies are not intelligent creatures nor physically vigorous. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/4 "2015-05-12T13:07:51Z")
If the zombie in question frequently climbed ladders while alive then he/she/it could retain the subconscious skill.I think you are looking at firefighter zombies, painter zombies, roofer zombies, construction zombies, or zombie children who had the upper bunk bed. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/5 "2015-05-12T13:18:00Z")
See, I reckon in a chimps with a typewriter style they’d eventually, through sheer trial and error, manage to clamber up after many failed attempts. Since they’d never give up and would not be discouraged by the failures. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/6 "2015-05-12T13:52:31Z")
I dunno. Their motor skills are not good and they don’t seem too steady on their feet. Climbing a ladder involves better coordination of movement than they exhibit. I can more easily see one getting itself trapped in a ladder than climbing one. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/7 "2015-05-12T15:00:46Z")
No, because they don’t exist. Unicorns cannot climb ladders for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/8 "2015-05-12T15:09:58Z")
Once they school up heading for a food source, I could see one climbing a ladder by accident. But I don’t see it as a deliberate reasoned-out thought. (Despite what Saint George taught us about Big Daddy in LOTD. Even among zombies he was just a freakazoid) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/9 "2015-05-12T15:11:05Z")
If Baron Samedi tells them to. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/10 "2015-05-12T16:21:34Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > My impression from the slow-moving zombie books is that they don’t so much climb the ladders as form piles from wave after wave of zombies until the ones on top can claw their way to the roof and eat your intestines. This, exactly. So I answered the poll with “Maybe?” They’re not climbing the ladder per se, but if you think you can survive the zombie apocalypse in your tree house, you’ve got another thing coming. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/11 "2015-05-12T16:28:31Z")
My son could climb ladders about three months before he learned how to walk. From this I conclude that climbing ladders is easier than walking, which is something the walking dead can do pretty much by definition. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/12 "2015-05-12T17:06:44Z")
In the original “Dawn of the Dead,” the zombies climb the ladder to the roof to get Frannie (and later, Peter) in the helicopter. A bunch of them, too. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/13 "2015-05-13T00:01:14Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > In the original “Dawn of the Dead,” the zombies climb the ladder to the roof to get Frannie (and later, Peter) in the helicopter. A bunch of them, too. They also all wait in line and go up the latter single file without any fighting. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/14 "2015-05-13T00:10:10Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > They also all wait in line and go up the latter single file without any fighting. 😛 I can’t stop laughing. How did Peter get past all those polite zombies on the way up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/15 "2015-05-13T01:35:47Z")
I remember reading about a witch doctor who tried to hold a pagan ceremony with zombies and a girl victim who was tied up on a platform. To complete the ritual the zombies had to ascend some ladders and eat the girl—and this would somehow summon a powerful demon. Unfortunately, all the clumsy zombies could do was climb a couple of steps of the ladders before falling back to the ground. The unholy service had to be cancelled thus proving that two rungs don’t make a rite. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/16 "2015-05-13T03:31:35Z")
**^** STOP THAT! STOP THAT! Much too silly. You’re not even in the proper thread! Thread Game forum; Made-up, etc. thread. Now, BE OFF! Get some discipline into those men, sergeant-major! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/17 "2015-05-13T05:05:36Z")
[Evidence that zombies can climb ladders](http://plantsvszombies.wikia.com/wiki/Ladder_Zombie). If we assume that their explicit memory is destroyed, most lores seem to imply that the motor memory is intact, if more difficult due to rigor mortis or technical constraints. Therefore they might be able to if their physical disabilities aren’t a hindrance. But they wouldn’t be able to explain to you how exactly they know how to climb. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/18 "2015-05-13T13:41:28Z")
Depends. Zombies obviously have motor skills - they can walk forward, turn, crouch, reach, grab, and so on. Zombies are usuaully presented as capable of ascending stairs, and a ladder is just a really steep and rickety flight of stairs. Nothing about climbing a ladder involves a specific physical action a zombie does not perform walking around. But, again, ladders are really steep and rickety, and if not secured will tip over at the slightest provocation; hell, they’re dangerous to human beings. A clumsy, stupid zombie will struggle with most ladders. So it depends on the ladder, how it’s set up, steepness, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/19 "2015-05-13T13:51:53Z")
Ladder climbing involves alternately holding and releasing with the hands in coordination with lifting feet from one rung to the next. The majority of Romero-style zombies on movies and TV don’t exhibit that level of motor skill. They shuffle along, arms dangling limply at their sides. They use their arms only when feeding or to drag themselves along if their legs are destroyed. (The exceptions being the rare example who tries a doorknob or picks up a rock to bust a window.) I can easily see a zombie who is “smart” enough to climb a ladder accidentally slipping a leg down through the rungs and being trapped basically forever. Maybe even dangling upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847/20 "2015-05-13T14:00:02Z")
A zombie trying to climb a ladder would basically be a 1950’s Jerry Lewis comedy bit is your take away point here. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-zombies-climb-ladders/719847.md?page=2)